Let's start over.

At noon it felt like a day lost.
Nothing terrible had transpired... yet nothing... had transpired.
And then when I was ready to regroup and change gears, aiming for more fun...and to BE more fun...

"Mom! (someone-who-shall-remain-nameless) just now punched me in the arm with a bell pepper!"

Okay.  Everyone needs a nap today, and I need some quiet for a while.
And they did.  And I did.  I glittered the stars all by myself, and enjoyed every single moment of quiet!
I wrote a "to-do for fun" list for myself in ten colors.
I scissored and snipped, penciled and inked, punched and strung a banner.

It was therapy.

Just before dinner 3 cousins were delivered to my door while their parents took a Christmas-shopping date.
We had a date of our own, those three cousins, me, and my 7 hoodlums! 
Nachos for dinner; books read; and then we dove into our Craft Friday project on Thursday night.
Two little ones strung beads...

7 big kids created faux stained glass, by decoupaging candle holders with tissue paper.

In case you are wondering why all the headlamps(?)
It's only this bright in my photo because of my lightning-bolt camera flash.
We have 4 propane lamps that light this room which provide luminescence necessary
for getting around furniture and quickly finding the chocolate stash,
however it's not really enough light for working on projects.

There are electric lights in the pantry/washroom (as you see in the background) which we can use
when the generator is running or the batteries charged, but electric lighting in the rest of the house
is a work in progress.
For the present we continue to enjoy ambiance :-)

Our crafting went surprisingly well...

despite this one little mishap.   Which I handled with grace and calm and which really
wasn't as bad as I thought on first glance.  It is a bowl of glue, after all, and that is my wall.

I will add here,

that I think it's a sign of maturity
when the first order of dealing
(or maybe "coping")
with an event like this
means
I grab my camera.


Good to know I'm growing up.










It was a Christmasy evening, full of sweet little people and the memories they made.
I even got a second chance at trying to be fun!  I'm going to need a lot more practice
though... so I hope tomorrow's got more camera-grabbing moments in store :-)